How we make decisions

Funding decisions are made collectively by our members, who cover a broad range of issues and communities and income levels. Our application and decision making process is underpinned by ourfunding values.

Through members’ meetings we discuss our next steps, any issues that have arisen and decisions that need to be made, and as a group decide how to move forward. Decisions are made by consensus whenever possible, or otherwise by majority vote. Some discussions take place by email or over the phone or Skype. We also have a Facilitating Group of around 5-10 members who do the background work before meetings, to prepare proposals for members to discuss.

Decisions about funding applications

Funding decisions involve members reading and scoring applications as well as discussions in person at meetings. Members of theCommunity Committees and Advisory Groupsare first to score and give feedback on applications which impact their own community. The current process is outlined in the diagram below. The whole process takes just over 2 months.

We are constantly discussing and reviewing the ways that we work and are committed to keep on evolving according to our own experiences and feedback from applicants and the communities we engage with.

The final stage involves bringing together the 15 groups that are being considered for a grant of between £1,500 and £3,000 so that they can be part of deciding how the funds are allocated. The video below is from Round 4 funding day in December 2014.